Prairie Dragon

You’ve heard about snow dragons, ice dragons, or frost dragons. Maybe you’ve heard
about fire dragons or rain dragons. If not, then you definitely have heard about Chinese
dragons, western dragons, sea serpents, cockatrices, wyverns, or maybe even worms. But
there is one dragon I am sure you’ve never heard about before: the Prairie Dragon.

They look a lot like prairie dogs from a distance, but upon
closer examination, much closer examination, you will see tightly folded wings
along the back. When their wings are expanded to a full three feet, tiny,
fur-covered horns appear at the top of their heads, starting just behind the
eyes. Their tails are the size of any prairie dog, except when they stretch
their wings; then their tails expand to a length of four feet. Their fur is like
that of a prairie dog yet it retains a spiky, scaly texture to it instead of one
that is smooth and soft. In fact, close examination of the end of the tail
reveals shiny gold and green-tinged scales beneath the fur; similar scales are
scattered on the underside of their otherwise silky wings. A diamond shaped
scale, often red, but occasionally blue, is located in between the eyes, halfway
between the top of the head and the nose. They also have small beards under
their chin.

They live in the prairies, underground. Their home is a series
of underground tunnels with a minimum of two doors for entry and exit. Their
underground tunnel homes are located mostly in the prairie countryside, but they
also can be found in the fields and yards of towns and cities.

There are three common places to look if you wish to spy a
prairie dragon: the ground on hot days, small underground tunnel entrances, and
crosswalks in towns and cities.

On really hot days, you can see heat drifting up from the
ground. If you look really close, you’ll see that within that haze there is a
prairie dragon or two flying around.

If you try blocking the entrances to prairie dog tunnel homes,
a new entrance will suddenly appear. At this new entrance, you will see what you
will mistake to be an angry prairie dog. Look a little closer and you will
notice the little beard under the chin and wings starting to unfurl slightly
from the back; that is a prairie dragon.

The most common sightings of prairie dragons are at
crosswalks. At the crosswalks, you will see at least two of what you will
mistake to be prairie dogs. One stays on the sidewalk at the crosswalk while the
other walks, or jumps, onto the crosswalk. He stops in the middle of the road
and faces the driver to thank him for remembering to stop at the crosswalk for
pedestrians of all kinds. During this time, the prairie dogs waiting at the
corner cross the road. Once they have reached the other side, the first prairie
dog, which really is a prairie dragon, finishes crossing the road. However, if
the prairie dragon nearly gets run over by a car at a crosswalk, he will chatter
as loudly as possible, hands on hips, at cars and bicycles at each and every
crosswalk he encounters that day before attempting to place a foot in the
crosswalk. Once he reaches the middle of the road, he will explain the
importance of remembering the usage of crosswalks and rules of basic road safety
courtesy to the driver while the prairie dogs cross safely.

Long, long ago, a group of arctic dragons migrated south. Many
settled in the Rocky Mountains, where caves are abundant, as are snow and warm
weather. Others settled further south where snow couldn’t be found. One group of
arctic dragons took a slightly different path from the new southern settlers and
the Rocky Mountain settlers. They caught a chinook and glided on its warm
current. They didn’t try to fly against the wind. The wind carried them further
and further away from the other groups of arctic dragons, to a land smooth and
flat.

When these arctic dragons’ wings grew tired of carrying them,
they forced their way down to the ground They walked and walked, looking at the
bright blue sky. They marvelled at the flatness of the land and the flatness of
the sky. Most peculiar. This was the same sky they knew, but somehow here it
seemed to be a flat land of its own, separated from the land they now walked
upon.

Suddenly, they stopped. Something was wrong. All the creatures
of the land, even the birds, had disappeared without a sound. Something was up.
They looked up to the flat, blue sky. They saw the problem. They had to hide and
hide quickly.

With their powerful eyes, they saw there were no caves nearby
for them to hide in. The nearest ones were hundreds of miles away and then they
would have to travel towards the problem. Not a very good prospect. They did,
however, notice several holes in the ground. They peered closer and noticed
these holes led to an underground home. They made themselves small and crept
inside.

They met up with the owners of these underground tunnels. The
owners were afraid at first; they huddled together away from the newcomers.
These arctic dragons explained how they came and what they saw approaching. The
prairie dogs knew what was coming and agreed to allow the arctic dragons to stay
while the tornado passed.

And, so, it was during this time of peril that the prairie
dogs and the arctic dragons exchanged stories and got to know each other better.
The tornado passed, as did time. These prairie dogs and arctic dragons came to
stay together and created a new breed: the Prairie Dragon.

Dragons usually lay eggs. Dragons lay either one or hundreds of eggs.
It can be a few days to a few hundred years before the dragonlings hatch
from the eggs. It all depends on which type of dragon.

Prairie dogs have a gestation period of about one month.
This can happen only once a year.
They give birth to about 5 pups in a litter.

Prairie dragons are a mix between prairie dog and dragon.
Reproduction is not as straight forward as either the dragon
or the prairie dog. It leaves the mother with the gnawing
feeling that she is never done anything.

Prairie dragons gestate once every 10 years for 6 months.
They look more and more like prairie dogs as the gestation
period progresses. They even look like they give birth.
Actually, prairie dragons do consider it more of a birthing
process more than anything else. They birth no more than
two eggs.

Prairie dragon eggs are kept in the warmest part of the cave.
They are wrapped in blankets of intermeshed leaves and twigs and
cloth taken from humans when they are not looking. The eggs
continue to grow for 7 years. Then the dragonlings hatch.

The hatching of prairie dragonlings is special.
The cracks begin from the bottom of the eggs and
squiggle upwards. Once there are 9 such lines on the eggs,
another line cracking occurs around the top of the egg.

The prairie dragonling then lifts this top part with its head.
With the head in the open air, the prairie dragonling looks
around and usually lets out a short squeak. It then uses its
nose to push off a piece of shell and throw it up in the air.
It catches the shell piece in its little mouth. It bends over
as far as it can without rolling the egg over and places the
piece on the floor. Each piece is laid carefully on top of
the previous one.

Most prairie dragonlings repeat this process until the egg is
exactly half the height it was; the prairie dragonling then
climbs out. A few prairie dragonlings are more meticulous
and patient. They continue the process of shell removal until
the only eggshell left is the shell directly underneath their
feet and the shell on top of their head. All prairie dragonlings
use their hands to remove the egg shell from the top of their heads
and place that piece on top of the egg shell pile they made.

Prairie dragonlings are aware whether they were the only egg or
if another egg was birthed the same day. In the latter case,
the newly hatched prairie dragonling will sit and wait for the
other one to hatch before approaching the mother. Sadly enough,
if the other egg is not hatching, the prairie dragonling stays
with it. If the mother tries to coax the prairie dragonling to eat,
even by bringing the food right to the prairie dragonling, it will
refuse. It will stay with its twin egg, wrap itself around it,
and wait even if it means it will starve to death.

It is possible to have several prairie dragon eggs birthed in different
years and hatching at the same time. The same level of loyalty is not
as present in these prairie dragonlings. They do not wait for each other
after hatching. They run straight to the mother and ask her for food.

Prairie dragons, like all other creatures, have habits. It is
important to remember that prairie dragons are individuals and some
have habits that other prairie dragons do not have. The habits
outlined here are the ones that all prairie dragons share.

Dragons, mostly those dragons found in folklore and myths,
are known for collecting shiny objects. In particular, they
took gems and jewels.

Prairie dragons are not much different. They love shiny objects.
To fill this urge, they may collect things like metallic shelves
from the inside of human refrigerators, old faucets, and tins.
These are collected from the human’s “I don’t
really want this anymore” piles.

However, they frown upon taking human jewellery and other such gems.
Instead, prairie dragons are known to bring home wonderful things
like unpaired socks, paper, and sticks of different colours that
humans call either pens or pencils, and the wires from their big
metallic boxes. Please note that prairie dragons love to chew on
those wires; it works the jaw muscles wonderfully.

Prairie Dragons, by their sheer ability not to be recognized
as dragons, possess the innate ability to foresee the future better than any
other dragon type out there.

Personally, I think that is ridiculous. No dragon can tell the
future any better than any other dragon or any other creature for that matter.
In fact, no creature can foresee the future. Ha! I even remember heard tell my
grandmother that one day some Prairie Dragon would write about our kind for all
the world to learn, even humans! Oh. Okay. So maybe that was a bad example.

Prairie dragons are the best traffic directors of the 20th
century at various prairie town crosswalks, or, in the very least, really know
how to inform human drivers of courteous road sharing skills, although the
drivers often sit, listen, and giggle foolishly to themselves.

Oh. We are the best traffic directors and we constantly are
reminding those drivers how to share the road. Okay. So that was a bad example,
too.

Let me think. There has to be some sort of myth about prairie
dragons that just needs to be set straight. Yes, I know.

This is a real falsehood. If it weren’t for the prairie
dragons’ fire breathing ability, the prairie dogs who wake up February 2 would
have a hard time digging through all that snow at the entrances of their homes.
It is the responsibility of prairie dragons to melt the snow away from
underground tunnel entrances as well as ice formations within the underground
tunnel homes. They also warm the tunnel homes of prairie dogs during the long, cold
winter months. Without this help from the prairie dragons, the prairie dogs most
likely would not venture outside until the snow melted on its own; then the
humans would have absolutely no clue as to when spring might show up that year.

It is true that prairie dragons are the same size as prairie
dogs. That’s only natural since prairie dragons have evolved from the
interbreeding of arctic dragons and prairie dogs. However, prairie dragons
continue to possess many arctic dragon abilities. Arctic dragons grow
considerably when they sleep. When they awaken, they often find their wings
trapped in the cavern. In order to fly out of the suddenly smaller cavern, the
arctic dragon shrinks until he is able to manoeuvre out of the cavern.
Similarly, prairie dragons shrink and grow whenever necessary. Rare is the time
that prairie dragons grow; they do not see the need to make themselves big now
that they live in the underground prairie tunnel homes.

If you look us, please watch from a distance. Although we
speak with as many creatures of the world as possible, we are rather shy. We
prefer to approach others than to be approached; that stems from having evolved
from prairie dogs. Please do not attempt to attack us either. We are peaceful
creatures, but will attack if threatened.